(Updated 9th August: corrected typo)
The time is almost upon us.
Whether or not Vista is delayed yet another month, the simple truth is that the new operating system and its associated goodies will soon be released.
So what has that got to do with ASP.NET hosting, since Longhorn Server (whatever its final name turns out to be) is at least another year away?
That's the obvious question, but it's a completely mistaken one. While we do indeed have a long time left to wait for the new server OS, that does not apply to most of the features that are of interest to developers. Since .NET 3.0 (formerly known as WinFX) will be made available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, the main feature of interest to developers that won't be available (as far as I know) on the server in the intervening period is IIS 7.0 (admittedly that's a biggie, especially since it will be sitting on our Vista workstations taunting us with its niftiness). Crucially, both Workflow and WCF will be available for installation on W2K3, and both of those are of interest to web developers.And let's not forget the wonders of System.IO.Packaging: there are (or should be) obvious benefits in being able to programmatically generate Office 2007 documents from public servers.
The point of this post is that it would be very helpful if Microsoft conducts an evangelism effort with ASP.NET 2.0 hosters to encourage them to install the new bits.
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is an obvious driver here: we want it, and we want it by last year. While it will be all very nice to get the new bits installed on corporate servers, let's not forget that the business cases for WSE are doubly valid for WCF, which has the advantage of being less painful to use and suffering less obvious tag incontinence (as well as doing more).
WCF will live up to its potential when it moves beyound the corporate firewall, which is where the hosters come in (since after all, we don't all have a server in the basement...).
The .NET 3.0 name is unfortunate from the point of view of hoster adoption, since it could give rise to the mistaken assumption of a new version of ASP.NET with all the migration and testing issues that would entail. .NET 3.0 will only get installed if it can be made plain that it is an addition to .NET 2.0, not a replacement, and that there are no issues at all relating to ASP.NET and the versioning thereof. If that isn't made crystal clear, we might as well all start waiting for Longhorn Server.
But personally I choose to be optimistic. I'm just getting my nagging in early.